


indigo summer

by serendipitea



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Comedy, Crushes, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lifeguards, Light Angst, Mai/Ty Lee if you squint, Pining, Summer Love, Summer Vacation, Surfing, Swearing, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, zuki are best friends bc its a necessity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25753015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitea/pseuds/serendipitea
Summary: Zuko takes up a life guarding job the summer before going off to university. What he doesn't expect is to be completely distracted by the surfer girl with bright blue eyes.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 153
Kudos: 346





	1. introductions

The sun burns onto the sand of Ember Island beach at noon. The coast is packed with tourists and locals alike. The air is filled with childish screams, cheers from volleyball games, and the squawking of seagulls. Summer has hit the Fire Nation like never before with record highs in temperature and number of heat waves. And still, the tourist-magnet of an island is booked up to the brim in each of its resorts, hotels and inn’s. The humid, suffocating air does nothing to stop every soul on the island from rushing to the scorching sand of the beach.

None of it is new for Zuko and Suki, the two had grown up together crawling, then steadily walking, then running along the shores of the island. Every summer, they watch as the coast is littered with people and then as the school year draws near and the heat fades out to monsoons the liveliness departs.

This summer is no different, except that Zuko has begrudgingly found himself a job and Suki is desperate to get them both to enjoy their last bits of freedom before they throw themselves into the reality of adulthood.

A few metres off from the life guard’s post, Zuko and Suki stand by the ice cream booth as the auburn haired girl quickly devours her sweet cold snack— though it does nothing to stop all of it that is melting onto her hand.

“Wanna try?” she tilts the cone to the boy.

He shakes his head, “No eating before duty.”

She rolls her eyes, “It’s not _eating._ It’s ice cream”

“Listen, I can’t risk it, okay? Chit Sang’s always patrolling around and he does extra checkups for me,” he scowls.

“Maybe he thinks you have ulterior motives,” Zuko raises a brow in question, “You look like the epitome of evil.”

“Hey!”

She gestures widely with her free hand to show him the beach as if he hadn’t seen enough of it already, “The sun is shining, the waves are up, there’s food trucks everywhere, everyone is having fun! Meanwhile, you’re standing like two steps away from your job, cursing the world and glowering at little kids that run by.”

“I am not,” he seethes.

She gives him a pointed look.

“Ok, maybe I am. I don’t like beaches. There’s too many people. Just because I hate humans infesting a tiny area, like little ants to cotton candy, doesn’t mean I’m evil.”

Suki bites at the waffle cone and mumbles through her full mouth, “God, just let loose, it's our last summer before university!”

“Not if letting loose costs me my job.”

“You’re so infuriating you know that?”

“Yeah but you don’t have any other friends so you’re stuck with me,” he grins.

Suki gives him a twisted smile, pulls his hand into hers and crushes the remainder of her cone into his hand, sweet sticky and slightly warm ice cream spilling all over his skin. That earns her a lot of yelling but she definitely thinks it was worth it.

It’s much later, when the sun is dipping into the horizon and the beach is painted in deep reds and oranges, that everyone begins to retreat home. Zuko sighs out, slumping in his high life guard’s chair and watching over the water. He likes this much better, as the day ends the crowds lessen and the world goes quiet. He can finally hear the waves crashing against the sand and it’s so much more satisfying with no one else around. He conjures a flame into his hand, watching it dance in his palm and he smiles when he notices that the colours match the sun set.

The tranquility doesn’t last for long.

A huge wave takes over the water and when it comes down the spray is so great it douses the flame in Zuko’s hand. That gets his attention. He looks up and sees a girl. She’s _on top_ of the sea, balanced on a board of water that looks so solid he can’t believe its liquid. When the water settles completely, out pops another head. The silence of the beach is disturbed by this drenched boy’s yelling. The girl's hands push and pull at the sea as she laughs to herself when her water whips bend to smack the boy in the face. His hands come out from beneath the water to grab at her but she evades him easily, simply gliding away.

And then she turns, eyes meeting Zuko while her smile still dances on her face. She’s backlit by all the beautifully warm colours of the sun and he thinks the scenery still doesn’t compare to how breathtaking she looks. Warm brown skin, brown hair that looks softer than clouds, and round eyes bigger than he’s ever seen. She looks away a minute later and he can’t tell if he’s going insane or if there really is a pink blush growing on her cheeks.

Zuko blinks, jaw slightly open in shock, like he’s seeing a mirage.

“You’re done right? I have to get the car home by nine or my Dad is gonna throw a fit since it’s a rental,” Suki’s voice comes up behind him.

He nods dumbly in response.

Suki asks him something again but he can’t seem to understand much when the girl in the ocean is gliding away again, this time pulling out shapes from the water and scattering them in the air like fireworks.

“Hello?” Suki’s face comes into his vision as she’s climbed the ladder to his chair to push into his personal space to get his attention.

He snaps his head to her.

“Oh, yeah,” he clears his throat, “Yeah let’s go.”

She turns her head to look at the only two people left in the sea, the boy conveniently now submerged into ocean.

 _Oh no._ Zuko groans internally.

Suki’s smirk greets him when she turns around.

“So…” she draws out the vowel.

Zuko pushes her off the ladder.

“Oh you’ve got it so bad!” She laughs out, unfazed by her fall.

“No. No I’ve got nothing.”

“Zuko, it’s ok to have a crush,” she placates, getting up and patting his shoulder once he finally descends and grabs his things.

He shoves her hand off, “I don’t have crush! I don’t even know her!”

Suki shrugs, “But you think she’s cute.”

Zuko doesn’t respond, trudging through the sand and over to the far side of the parking lot.

“I don’t hear denial.”

“I wish they would ban you from this island.”

“I live here!”

“Yeah so do I and you’re making my life hell.”

“God, you’re so melodramatic, you should just join the acting troupes.”

He gives a dry laugh in response, “You’re the funniest person I know.”

She follows behind him still laughing about the girl they spotted, too satisfied with herself at how easy it is to make him squirm. Zuko thinks its good that the heat of this summer has left everyone completely baked: its easier to hide his blushing face, if anyone notices. And he knows Suki _definitely_ will.

When she drops him home after their routine Thursday night sushi run, he all but collapses onto his bed from exhaustion.

The next three days — because his wonderful boss is nice enough to schedule Zuko on weekends too — are almost as tiring as before. For some reason, children are much more susceptible to drowning and screaming out bloody murder because of sharks that don’t exist, on days meant for relaxation. Zuko ends up jumping off his chair and diving into the water about twenty-five times, and only one of those times is an actual emergency.

For a change, Sunday proves to be mentally taxing, instead.

“Are you just going to sit there and stare out at the sea the whole time.”

“That’s kind of what I’m getting paid for, Azula, yes.”

“I need to talk to you.”

Zuko’s eyes are searching the coast for the girl that hasn’t escaped his mind even after so many days, “Mhm go ahead."

Azula notices his gaze and spares a glance over her shoulder, but catches eyes with Ty Lee and a gathering of boys that has amassed around her. She huffs and snaps her head back to her brother.

“You’re eighteen.”

“Yup.”

“You graduated.”

“Yeah?”

“Well now that you’re going off to uni, it makes you _cool._ ”

“Who said that?”

“That’s just how it works.”

“Sounds stupid.”

“Well, yes, it’s a stupid social principle but it’s one that even I’ve picked up on.”

Zuko lets out a breath, “Okay, so what are you trying to tell me?”

“I need you to make some friends.”

He scrunches his brows, looking down to her, “What?”

“Uncle’s going to Caldera city this weekend for work so I’m throwing a party—”

Zuko cracks a grin, “Since when are _you_ the party person.”

Azula narrows her eyes at him throwing a small flame in his direction as he dodges.

“Is this what Uncle’s weird friend from the Pai Sho club meant when he said the world is ending?”

“Shut up!” she exclaims.

Zuko thinks it’s very strange for his sister to get so worked up over a little teasing.

“Ty Lee said to do it.”

_Ah, there it is._

“And if I’m throwing a party there needs to be _cool_ people. Older kids. Or else it’s just some stupid high schoolers having a sleep over.”

“No.”

“You’ll come and you’ll bring your stupid friends or I’ll tell Uncle where the scratch on his car actually came from.”

Zuko’s eyes widen.

“Azula—”

“See you there!”

The boy shakes his head, trying to rid his mind of his sister’s ultimatum.

His eyes trail back to the water and then he sees her. The water bender from yesterday. Her hair is dry as she walks forward a few steps away from the coast and he figures she had only just showed up. He spots the boy she was with trailing behind her but staying on the sand as he yells out something about not being ambushed again.

The girl leans forward to lay on her belly and lands onto a board of water she forms in a split second. She continues paddling out until she’s far enough that Zuko can barely make out her tiny little figure. She waits. And then as a huge wave begins to approach, she readies herself. The mass of water folds over itself and he almost panics when he doesn’t see her. Then she emerges from the tunnel of salty blue, feet pressed onto her board, hands up for balance and hair blown back by the wind. Her laughs of joy are so loud they make it to Zuko’s place on the coast. She ride the wave, weaving up and down. The water falls and she paddles around.

Then she surfs again. And again. And again

He tries his hardest to pull his gaze elsewhere, every once in a while, thinking to himself that he is probably very obviously neglecting his duties and also must just look like a creep.

But when she starts bending he can’t look away. She likes to make shapes of water around her, even as she surfs through those curved walls of sea. She drags little slops up beneath her so she can soar in the air when she exits the tunnels. When the wind settles for a while she sits upon her board, bending the water in front of her into little marine animals. And when the wait is too long she even tries to conjure up her own waves.

In all the people that have ever graced the pristine beaches of Ember Island, this is the first person Zuko can’t take his eyes off.

“I can feel you pining from all the way down here.”

“You have to ruin everything for me, don’t you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I ruin your personal yearning time,” Suki smirks up at him.

Zuko scowls but his eyes are still on the coastline.

She throws a beach ball at his head.

“What the hell?” he says, finally snapping his head down to her.

Suki stands a few steps away from the ladder, a mint green wrap hugging her body and yellow rimmed sunglasses resting on her head.

“Have you just been watching her for the past six hours—”

“She only showed up like a two hours ago!”

“So you were counting.”

“No!”

Suki takes a deep breath, “Why don’t you just go and talk to her.”

His eyes bulge out of his head, “No way.”

He turns back to look at the shoreline. She’s walking back over to the boy that was yelling at her before. When she sits onto her beach mat, Zuko notices an older man with them. He pieces together what he can make out from far away and notices their slight resemblances.

The girl seems to have gotten into an argument with the boy, she bends the water of her hair and drops it over him. He yelps. She laughs, then squealing as she jumps up to avoid the handfuls of sand he is throwing at her face. She races off along the beach, jeering at him as she runs into the ocean again and pulls the water around herself.

Zuko sighs.

“Is it bad if I want her to drown?”

Suki throws a hard punch into his calf.

“Ow! I meant to save her!”

“You are so socially inept it literally pains me.”

“And yet you spend all your time with me.”

“I was cursed.”

Zuko rolls his eyes at her and throws his head back on the chair, groaning like he’s in agony from whatever stupid infatuation he’s developing.

“I’m not good at this stuff, you should be more understanding.”

She stays quiet for a moment, scrutinizing him, looking behind herself to see the girl returning to her mat, and then smiles.

“Come with me.”

She grabs his hand and pulls him off the high chair. He falls face first on to his hands and knees but she pulls him along anyway. She’s much stronger than him, dragging him away even when he plants his feet into the sand. Every strong step Suki takes pulls him closer to the surfer girl.

“Suki, no!”

“Suki, yes!”

“I’m on my shift!”

“You can look at stupid kids cry about seaweed down here too.”

“Chit Sang is gonna—”

But it’s too late, they’re here. The girl and boy turn around at the sounds of their voice, eyebrows raised from the commotion.

Zuko swallows. She is so much more beautiful up close. Her long dark brown hair is drenched in salty water again and it frames her face perfectly. Her blue eyes perfectly mirror the sea that she spends hours surfing through and Zuko thinks he sees them light up as they search his face.

Suki claps a hand onto his shoulder after long moments of silence that she expected him to break.

“I’m sorry, he has the social capabilities of a child kept in a basement his whole life.”

The girl and boy quirk up at her comment.

“This is Zuko. He’s the brooding life guard that hates his job.”

He shrugs her hand off his shoulder, “And this is Suki, the parasite that crawled out of the sea and stuck on to me.”

She sneers at him.

The boy lets out a chuckle, “I’m Sokka and this is my sister, Katara.”

“Oh yeah, Zuko knows Katara,” Suki jeers.

Katara’s eyes widen, “You do?”

Suki changes the subject quickly, “We’re locals. Are you guys vacationing?”

The two nod and the girl gives a smile, “Yeah! We’re here for our senior summer.”

“Yeah my genius sister managed to skip a grade so I couldn’t even get a year away from her.”

“Where are you guys headed?” asks Suki.

“Ba Sing Se University. We haven’t been to the city yet so it’ll be completely new to us.”

“That’s crazy! We’re going there too.”

“Woah, y’know I heard most Fire Nation kids stick to…”

The conversation seems to dull out of his ears when Zuko’s eyes meet Katara’s again. She’s not listening either, eyes watching him. She gives a small smile. It falters a little after a few seconds and he remembers that he probably just looks like he’s giving her a dead blank stare.

_How do you smile again?_

He struggles to pull his cheeks up. Whatever comes out of Zuko’s attempts to grin must not be too horrific since Katara hasn’t gotten scared yet.

She steps to the side, looking for him to follow and Zuko does.

“So, life guarding huh?” her eyes trail his tee, and — if Zuko isn’t completely delusion — his arms too.

“Uh, yeah, ahah.”

Katara nods slowly, giving a tight lipped smile at the bland response.

She looks away, chewing on her bottom lip.

_He told Suki he was bad at this. How could she betray him like this?_

“What made you wanna do it?”

“Huh?

“Life guarding.”

“Oh, uhm…”

_I’m broke and Iroh won’t pay me to work at the Jasmine Dragon because he thinks ‘building character’ is more valuable than a salary._

“My life doesn’t matter if someone else is in danger, I would die trying to save them.”

_What the fuck is wrong with you?_

Katara blinks for a moment and then lets out a laugh, “Are you always this intense?”

Zuko breathes out a sigh, “No, no… The heat is getting to me.”

She smiles again and he thinks the embarrassment he always manages to put himself through is worth it. She’s cute, _really_ cute. If he weren’t so bad at this kind of thing he’d be able to invite her to hangout after his shift but he’s Zuko: being smooth never works for him. And he doesn’t want to give up his chances with her just because he can’t get a normal sentence out.

His _chances_ yeah… Whatever that means. He tells himself he won’t be telling Suki about that thought, as if she doesn’t already know how stupidly quick he’s gaining feelings for Katara. He’s kidding himself thinking that she won’t be forcing him to go chase after his ‘summer love’ or whatever other stupid phrases she’s picked up from the chick flicks she forces him to watch every weekend. This is going to be a _long_ summer, but maybe if he gets to talk to Katara just a little more, he’s ready to die because of his friend’s teasing.

The blowing of a whistle pulls Zuko out of his trance. His eyes blow wide.

“Fu—”

“Zuko!” comes Chit Sang’s voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying a modern au for atla for the first time! and this is my first chaptered zutara fic, super excited ahah
> 
> thank you for reading and please let me know your thoughts in the comments!!


	2. talks at night

Sunday nights are always spent watching movies that Zuko and Suki love to talk through. They alternate between whose room becomes the cinema and the other brings over snacks. Tonight, they’re conversing as an animated story blares on in front of the many bowls on the bed filled with popcorn, candy and chips.

Zuko wishes that for once Suki would just watch the film.

“You’ll be there _,_ ” she flicks a few kernels at his head.

“No,” he fusses as he tries to pick up the mess on his bed sheets.

“Yes.”

He groans, “Suki, you’ve spent all four years of high school forcing me to go to these dumb parties. I haven’t liked them before, I won’t like them now.”

“It’s literally happening downstairs _,_ Zuko” she sounds out the words like he’s a little child, “You don’t have to _go_ anywhere. In fact, you’ll get swept up into it when you come home from your job to change.”

“I’ll just climb a tree, break in to my room and then jump out.”

“Your room is like twelve feet above the ground.”

“I’m willing to die trying.”

“I hate you a lot.”

“Join the club,” Zuko flicks her forehead. Suki grabs his wrist and twists.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!”

She releases. He scowls as she smiles back. A bell resounds in the room and she picks up her phone and scrolls through, checking through her texts.

“I just solved another one of your problems,” she watches him from the corner of her eye, still hunched over her phone.

He raises a raises a brow, “Okay and what’s that?”

“I got uni kids to come.”

“Wonderful, you’re doing a great service to Princess Azula,” he rolls his eyes.

“It’s good for you too.”

“How so?” he says, moving to grabs the bowl of candy.

“Well, Sokka said he’s coming…”

“That’s great for _you_. You two have been texting ever since we met. Now you have someone to go with,” he shrugs, popping one of the sweets in his mouth.

“Do I have to spell everything out for you?”

“What?”

“Sokka’s sister…”

Zuko gives her a dumb look, “Yeah, I know her. You spend every moment of your life teasing me about her—”

“Katara’s going to come with him to the party, you idiot.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

After a few more minutes of pressuring Zuko, he gives in — though he’s already made his decision when he learns Katara is going, he needs to save face if he wants to survive Suki’s torment.

The next night, Suki comes over early and lays a siege in Zuko’s bedroom. She shuffles through his wardrobe and drawers pulling out shirts and pants that she thinks would go together well.

“What are you doing?” he huffs, picking up after the thrown away clothes that she leaves behind.

“I’m trying to find a good outfit for you to wear tonight, lover boy.”

“Shut up— I’m not—” he lets out a breath, realizing there’s no point in trying to argue with her, it’s like trying to talk to a brick wall.

“Yes, you very much are and I’m so proud of you for it,” she finally decides on his clothes for the night and shoves them into his arms, “Don’t let Iroh gel your hair.”

Zuko shoves her out of his room.

It’s much later when people actually begin showing up and Zuko and Suki finally join Azula and her friends. The fire bending family’s whole bottom floor has been transformed into a drunk-proof play pen for teenagers: all the vases, original artworks, and fine china are hidden away. All the tables from the dining room to the kitchen are stocked with finger food and drinks. Music is booming out of multiple speakers scattered around the house.

Zuko has to credit Azula for her meticulous planning. He hopes she’ll have the same enthusiasm when clean up rolls around at five in the morning.

His eyes scan the room, trying to make sense of all the faces and looking for one in particular. Suki is doing the same before she makes a short noise, grabs him and pulls him over to the kitchen.

There are the two siblings they’d met before, conversing with a boy that looks too young to be here and also too young to be balding.

“Sokka!”

“Suki!” he grins as he turns around.

Zuko follows slowly, grasping hands with Sokka to greet him and then looking to Katara.

“Hey,” he smiles to her.

Her blue eyes twinkle, “Hey.”

“Uh…”

And Zuko is stuck again. This can’t be his usual social awkwardness— No, this has to be because this girl has him completely wrapped around her finger which is almost worse because he barely even knows her yet. He feels like an idiot, he can’t seem to advance a simple conversation with her and yet she still looks at him like she’s willing to forgive all his faults. He’s not sure why she’s giving him her time but he does know that whatever it is that makes her willing to put up with his lack of social skills is giving his heart a hard time.

“Hey!” comes the boy beside her snapping him out of his thoughts, “I’m Aang.”

He blinks away from Katara’s enrapturing eyes to look to the bald boy, “Zuko.”

“Aang’s visiting too, we’re all from the same high school back in Republic City,” Sokka introduces him.

“Yeah! Sad to see Sokka and Katara graduating out though… It’s like our little gang is breaking up,” he sighs shoulders slumping forward.

Suki raises a brow, “What do you mean? You’re not graduating?”

He gives out a laugh and reaches back to scratch at his neck, “Oh no… I’m gonna be going into my junior year this fall.”

Suki and Zuko share a glance: _Yeah… a little young to be here._ But they’re not snitches, so they quickly flit their gazes back to the others. Suki gives him short pat on the back, as if to wish him luck, before she leaves with Sokka to the porch. Zuko groans internally.

The conversation with Katara and Aang is… interesting. Zuko doesn’t get an opportunity to say much since the younger boy mostly talks about their high school life and the water bender laughs along. As they speak, the fire bender pieces together the story and realizes that the two friends used to date which does nothing to make Zuko feel any better about this situation. Really, it’s hard to even divert the subject.

“Oh yeah, that’s funny, Zuko. Katara, remember when _we_ went to…"

Eventually, he taps out, making some excuse about needing something from his room before he retreats into the living room. He spots Suki and Sokka at a couch talking to a couple of other people, one of which he makes out to be Ty Lee. Sokka’s arm is around hers and Suki is lightly pressed into his side and Zuko smirks: _looks like someone else has a crush too…_ He’ll definitely be using this information for later. Zuko joins them a few moments later and they talk between themselves before they move to games.

Over the next few hours Zuko learns that Sokka and Katara are originally from the Southern Water Tribe, had moved to Republic City after their mother passed away and are now trying to make sense of living together in Ba Sing Se in the coming months. Sokka mentions, with slurred words, how he wants to do his best to take care of his little sister because for so long now it’s always been _her_ caring for _him_. Though their father tried, he would mostly occupy himself with work and it was always her that was left with the burden of caring for the family. He says that he wishes he could be more of a shoulder to lean on, that she wouldn’t feel the need to be the glue to their family. He wants to be the older brother Katara deserves.

Zuko tells him that if he sets his heart right, he can be even more than that. That even though it seems impossible, if you truly love them, any family can be saved. The fire bender doesn’t mention his own family history.

He retreats from the group a while later, deciding to get some fresh air since seven different guys decided to crowd their area, trying to get Ty Lee’s attention.

He steps out of the house onto the front porch and settles his eyes on a few couples and friends that are stumbling home, heels in hand and feet pressing into the stone pathway. He takes deep breathes and drinks in the silence, the music blaring from far off and vibrating the wall he leans against. It is peaceful and quiet, he hopes it’ll stay that way for a little longer before some lightweight comes over and vomits all over Iroh’s precious bushes.His eyelids feel heavy and he isn’t sure if the soft moonlight and the light breezes are lulling him into sleep, or if he’s just too intoxicated to stand.

He wonders when everyone will go home— _if_ everyone will even go home. Azula has never held a party before, and certainly not one in this house. When they’d first moved in with Iroh, their nights were mostly spent in tears, going through legal work, or trying to make sense of a new life. Only now, after so long has their uncle even dared to step away from his niece and nephew. And only now, has Azula had the will power put herself out onto the frontlines of social criticism.

“Hey,” comes a voice besides him, paired with the sound of the door being shut.

Zuko turns his head, eyes meeting Katara as she smiles hesitantly.

“Oh,” he swallows, “Hey.”

She walks over the few steps and leans against the wall beside him, hands fiddling as they’re tucked away behind her back.

“Are you drunk enough to have a proper conversation with me now?”

Zuko’s eyes widen and he immediately flushes in embarrassment, “I—Uh.”

She raises a brow, daring him to deny his shyness.

He huffs out a breath, “Yeah. No, sorry.”

She shakes her head, deciding to drop the subject, “It’s really nice here, the island I mean.”

He grins slightly, “Yeah. I don’t know how I’m gonna say goodbye to it all.”

“First time away from home?” her lips quirks up in question, but there’s no teasing there.

Zuko nods, “It’s all I’ve known my whole life but I’m still not tired of it all. Just when I think I’ve seen it all there’s another cove I haven’t swam to, another rock formation by the coast I haven’t climbed, or a street vendor I haven’t tried yet. It’s special, it’s more than just a tourist destination. I don’t know how I’m supposed to leave it behind.”

Katara listens to him speak with a sad smile.

Then, she looks off into the scenery beyond the porch after a few moments while she mulls over his words, “I know what it’s like to get attached to home.”

Her eyes drop to the ground as she bites her lip, brows creasing together like she can’t decide if she should say what she wants to.

Zuko waits.

She turns her head back to look at him and searches his face. Her gaze is paralyzing, like his soul is being frozen in place, like even if he could move, everything in him doesn’t want to. Her hair brushes softly against her skin as the slow wind passes by the house. Zuko thinks the blue in her eyes is even more heavenly in the moonlight. He’s sucked into her beauty by some magnetic force. Katara looks ethereal.

She gives in.

“I remember when my dad told us we were moving to Republic City I was so furious. I couldn’t imagine life outside of the Southern Water Tribe— a life away from family and friends who we had years upon years of history with. I didn’t want to say good bye to my frozen home, but I had to. And even though I was stubborn about hating the city when we moved, I found myself falling in love anyway. With the crowded streets, the bustle of life, the humming of the city from morning to night.”

A fond look passes over her face, like she misses the place just one week into the summer.

“Change can be hard, but it is inevitable,” she smiles up to him, “I think I’m still learning to be as adaptable as my element.”

Zuko smiles back.

Slowly, they turn to look back to the landscape outside of Zuko’s porch.

They stand together, watching the moon as it shines and the sea as it sways under its command. It is comfortable and, for the first time, Zuko thinks he isn’t being awkward— no, they’re enjoying this together. Enveloping them is a welcomed bubble of quiet that feels like empathy and wistfulness. And they’re trapped in the middle of it all, completely at peace.

And then it is shattered.

“Katara!”

Zuko’s brows furrow when he sees Jet round the corner in front of the house.

Katara shuts her eyes and mutters something under her breath.

“Hey, baby,” he walks over.

Zuko’s head darts between them, “You know him?”

She scowls, “I’m not your baby.”

“Your brother’s looking for you, I said I’d come get you.”

“I don’t need you to escort me around,” she narrows her eyes at him.

She turns then, shoving the sliding door open and storming inside.

Zuko and Jet turn to each other. The boy with the brown hair spares him a long glance before he follows after Katara. Zuko thinks it must mean something, maybe some kind of warning, but he doesn’t spare it a second thought.

Jet, in all the years Suki and Zuko have known him, has always been an interesting character to say the least. He walks like he has the world at his feet and he speaks like everyone on this tiny island is begging for his knowledge. Him and Zuko, particularly, have never gotten along well. They got into fights on the beach in their childhood, crushed on the same boy in middle school, and played for opposing soccer teams in high school. He’s always been too much for Zuko, despite all the times Iroh has said he believes they could be great allies in different circumstances.

He sighs out and follows the two teenagers inside.

He spots them by the one of the many tables turned into a snack bar. Katara is yelling at Sokka who is defensively holding his hands up. Beside them, he sees Suki standing with her arms crossed and the most disgusted expression on her face as Jet speaks to her, leaning into her personal space.

Zuko walks over, calling out to them. Katara’s eyes meet his.

Then a face comes to block his vision.

“Zuko.”

“Mai.”

Her sharp eyes sting daggers into him, “You haven’t been answering my calls.”

“I’ve been busy,” he tries to move past her but she shuffles in front of him, stopping him again.

“Are you avoiding me?”

“No—”

“Why won’t you talk to me—”

“I just haven’t been checking my phone.”

“You can’t keep ignoring me.”

“I was never—”

“You were.”

“Mai—”

“I thought we said we’d stay friends, despite everything. You’re shoving me out again, why? Did you find someone new?”

She whips her head around, looking between the Suki, Jet, Sokka and finally Katara. Her eyes narrow on the tourists and she scrutinizes them.

“I’m not dating anyone.”

“But you want to?” She snaps, turning back to face him.

“It’s none of your business.”

“So I’m right.”

“Fuck, I can’t keep having this conversation with you,” he all but shouts.

He turns away, stomping out of the house. Suki follows after him.

He doesn’t stop, pacing through the pathway and down the steps until he’s trudging through sand. The resistance against his heavy steps does nothing to deter him. He complains loudly, voice raising higher every few beats and small spouts of fire escaping his mouth and nostrils before he shakes his head to calm himself.

When he gets to the water, slow waves gliding over the coast before they retreat, he sighs out. He sits down, hands fisting at the sand as he tries to follow meditative breathing patterns to not get too worked up.

“Zuko.”

“I didn’t want to reply to her anymore. Because she won’t stop— Because she keeps asking me about who I’m talking to, where I’m going, what I’m doing. All. The. Time,” he spits out, knowing exactly what Suki would ask before she can say it, “I don’t want to keep explaining myself to her.”

The girl doesn’t speak, simply frowning as she watches his clenched hands struggle against the sand.

“I don’t get it— We’re not dating anymore. I don’t owe any explanations to her.”

She sits down beside him.

“I don’t know what to do, Suki. We broke up, we talked, we gave each other space. She can’t handle being friends and I have to be at the receiving end of all her frustration.”

She speaks finally, her voice is a whisper, “I think she needs time.”

“It’s been months.”

“Months don’t matter when she thinks you’ll come back. You two always get back together again after every breakup because you’re both so strangely attached.”

He shakes his head, “I don’t know— I just— We always think it’ll be better the next time, that it’ll work. And…” he screws his lips together in discomfort, looking to Suki, "And we’re always wrong.”

Her lips pull into a thin line, “It’s not healthy, Zuko. You need to hit the nail in the coffin and move on from this failed relationship.”

His hands loosen from fists, sand returning to its place on the ground. The sound of the water cools him down and the fire that began to rage inside him starts to dim down to calm candlelight. He closes his eyes, taking in the scent of the sea air and the stillness of the night. His home always calms him.

He nods slowly, “I’m trying.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i tagged this light angst and after writing this chapter i might just have to change it to full angst, dkm haha
> 
> thank you for reading !! please let me know your thoughts in the comments, im truly so grateful for all your words <3


	3. cool fires

At the end of his shift, Zuko and Suki make their way over to Katara and Sokka’s beach mat.

After Suki had yanked out of him the conversation Zuko and Katara had at the party the other night, she became adamant and told him they definitely had to go and greet the siblings today. He told her that he didn’t want to seem overbearing and she told him that if he didn’t go Katara would forget him and ‘some other dumb Ember Island boy like Jet’ — Zuko very maturely restrained the need to gag upon hearing the boy’s name— would swoop in instead.

And so once Zuko puts away his life guarding gear, pulls off his uniform t-shirt and they buy four cones of ice cream, they approach their new friends.

The fire bender looks to Katara, she’s dressed in a blue sundress with white flowers on it and her hands are fiddling with the yellow sunglasses in her lap. Her head is turned to the side and when he follows her gaze he sees that she’s watching a beach volleyball game. As they get closer, he can see the match much better.

His eyes narrow as he makes out the faces: Jet, Haru, Ruon Jian and Chan. All boys that had grown up alongside Zuko and Suki. Conveniently, they’re all shirtless and Zuko frowns realizing Katara’s watching their sweaty bodies jump around on the coast.

When they get to them, he walks the few extra steps to stand in front of her, blocking her vision. Her head comes up, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, hey Zuko,” her lips quirk up.

He sits down, following Suki who is already enraptured in a conversation with Sokka about the probability of boomerangs actually coming back.

“Hey,” he answers, tilting the ice cream cone towards the water bender.

She takes it from him, their fingers brush and she tentatively takes a taste of the sweet snack.

He watches her, fear stricken that by some twisted turn of events her scoop ends up being infested with a sea bug or something else equally worse. If she got sick from the food he _specifically_ gave her that would not reflect very well and she’d never speak to him again, and then—

She quirks a brow, realizing he’s staring.

His eyes snap away.

Zuko’s hand comes up behind his neck, rubbing it slightly, “Sorry, I didn’t know what flavour you liked but Suki said to get whatever I like and mango is usually the safest option anyway and I didn’t wanna get you something too foreign cause most tourists don’t like the special Fire Nation flavours and—”

“Zuko?” she cuts him off.

He looks to her, eyes wide in anticipation, “Yeah?”

“I like it,” she laughs.

“Oh, okay. Okay, good, I’m glad.”

Katara continues to lick at her ice cream, eyes darting around the beach as a familiar silence wraps around them. Zuko is getting tired of killing conversations. He likes her voice too much, its soft and sweet and reminds him of a comfort that he has long lost.

“How come your family chose to vacation here?” he asks, thinking the question is open enough to keep her talking and gracing him with the melody of her voice.

“It’s so dumb…” she shakes her head, smiling to herself.

“Tell me anyway,” he tilts his head.

She watches him for a moment, like she’s about to tell him some embarrassing childhood story and has to brace herself.

“Well, our dad wanted us to choose where to go but —if you haven’t picked up already— Sokka and I usually have _very_ differing opinions. I said we should visit the Northern Water Tribe and see our cousin since it’s been so long. He said he didn’t want to spend summer cooped up inside in parkas and mittens— as if that wasn’t our home climate for most of our childhood.

“He said we should visit Ba Sing Se and scout out our new home but that’s just so boring considering we’ll be there anyway soon. Like what’s the point? And what are we supposed to see in a city? Pollution?”

Zuko gives a little laugh.

“I’m serious!”

She rolls her eyes, “But anyway, we just kept fighting and all the flights started filling up. Our dad was complaining to his co-worker — he kinda has a thing for her, even if he won’t admit— , and she said she’d be coming to Ember Island. He came home, booked the tickets as soon as he got through the door and here we are,” she spreads her arms to gesture around them, “We’re the background characters in my dad’s mid-life love quest.”

Zuko gives a lopsided smile, still watching her.

“I left you speechless with the idiocy, huh?” she smirks.

He shakes his head slowly, “I just like hearing you speak.”

She blinks, a blush coming to her cheeks slowly.

He doesn’t regret his word-vomit.

They watch each other for a moment. Blue meeting gold, each of them pulling into each other like a trance. He isn’t sure what to say — nothing out of the usual — but she doesn’t make to look away or speak either. Her hair is tied back today, two strands complimenting her round face.

He bets her hair is soft— _Is that weird to think?_

“You guys are coming right?” Suki’s voice cuts in.

It prompts Katara to look away from him and Zuko has never hated his best friend so much for stealing their moment.

“Where?” the water bender questions, lips pouting slightly in confusion.

_Cute._

Zuko squeezes his eyes shut in annoyance with himself, he’s acting like a twelve year old or something.

“Azula’s bonfire, Friday night!”

His eyes open at that, brows furrowing, “Again? She’s having another party?”

“Did you completely miss that part _five_ seconds ago where I said _bonfire_.”

He scowls, he’s so tempted to shove her cone into her face.

“Anyway, she texted me about it and said to bring more people since I was such a successful contact last time,” Suki spares Zuko a pointed glance and then turns to Sokka and Katara again, “So consider yourselves invited. Again.”

Sokka and Katara nod between each other before the boy speaks, “Yeah that sounds good, we’ll probably have to leave kind of early, though.”

“Who’s fault is that?” Katara gives him an annoyed glance.

Sokka shoots her a glare and turns to the two friends, “Our father’s just really protective, y’know? Its unsafe being out late in a foreign city and—”

“Dad smelt the alcohol on Sokka when he got back,” she cuts him off.

“Katara!”

“You also _looked_ absolutely shitfaced.”

“Y’know what? I’m not driving you on Friday.”

“Fine! Zuko will pick me up.”

The fire bender’s eyes widen, “Katara, I can’t—”

Suki butts in, “Yup he sure will! Don’t worry, Sokka.”

Zuko throws himself to the sand as the siblings continue to bicker. The sun blares into his eyes and he thinks that getting heat stroke might be great right about now. Suki leans over him, hand raised and pride showing through her toothy grin.

“High five!”

“I hate you.”

She throws sand at him.

In their rented out tourist beach house, Sokka and Katara find themselves lounging in the kitchen as they wait for the ice for their smoothies to freeze. Katara sits on the counter, legs dangling over the edge, and Sokka’s leaning against the fridge.

“So… Suki and Zuko, huh?” Katara starts.

Sokka narrows his eyes for a second, trying to look for a trap, “Yeah… Suki and Zuko.”

They look away from each other, both unsure of how to voice their thoughts and hoping on something that the other will say something to calm the issue in their head. After a minute too long, they whip their heads to each other, speaking at once.

“Do you think they’re—”

“Did they say that they—”

The siblings stop and watch each other with wide eyes.

Sokka tries to find his words in the most non-conspicuous way, “Suki and Zuko… they’re not…?”

Katara’s brows furrow, “No…” she shakes her head, but then doubt washes over her, “Right?”

“Yeah…” her blue eyes grow even bigger in response, “I mean like no! As in no… They’re not… y’know… like…”

“Like…” she doesn’t want to say it. Because in her brother’s eyes there’s no reason for her to ask, after all. She doesn’t want to clue him in just yet about the warmth she feels in her chest when talking to Zuko or the things he says and does that make her heart flutter.

“Like…” he nods to her, trying to get her to say it. He also has no intention of letting Katara find out about how fondly he thinks of Suki.

She nods back, “Like…”

He throws his hands up, “Like dating!”

Katara huffs out a breath of relief.

“Did Suki say anything to you at the party?” her brother asks.

She shakes her head, slowly trying to recall the night, “No… did Zuko say anything to you?”

He mirrors her action then pulls his lips in a dissatisfied frown.

“Maybe they’re just really good friends?” she questions.

“Are you kidding? Suki’s so funny and pretty and scary and cool! How could he _not_ have a crush on her?”

Katara decides that she won’t comment on how obviously Sokka is crushing on her: she can’t afford to have him reflexively accuse her of feeling the same for Zuko.

She tries to casually pull off a shrug, “Maybe she’s not his type.”

“Suki is everyone’s type.”

She rolls her eyes, slipping in her motive anyway, “Well then why don’t you ask her if _Zuko_ is her type?”

Sokka’s eyes bulge, voice reaching a high pitch that Katara hates, “Are you insane?”

“You might as well, since you’re so curious!”

“Oh don’t even try to play it off! I’ve seen you swooning over mister gloomy hotman!”

“Really? Hotman?” she crosses her arms, annoyed.

“Don’t change the subject! You like him.”

“And you like Suki.”

Sokka sputters for a few seconds.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Sokka thinks to himself for a minute before perking up again, “Why don’t you ask her?”

“Are _you_ insane?”

“What! You’re friends!”

“So are you and Zuko!”

“I am _not_ asking Zuko if he’s dating Suki."

“Well I’m not asking Suki!” she huffs.

“July 12.”

“What?”

“You owe me,” Sokka states.

“Just because I splashed you—”

“You _drowned_ me, Katara!”

“You’re so overdramatic!”

“Ok. Then. You said you owed me back in junior year when I drove you to your first date with Aang—”

“You were going the same way to see Yue!”

“And you said you owed me when I drove you to your second date with Aang.”

Katara groans, “Stop.”

“Oh, hey, I also drove you to every _other_ date with Aang.”

“Sokka,” she wines.

“I also drove you to _prom_ with Aang!”

“Like you weren’t going?”

“You know he was asking for your number again and,” he shrugs, “out of the kindness of my brotherly heart I said you didn’t have a phone anymore.”

“Ok, ok I get it! I’ll do it!”

The bonfire is schedule to start at sunset.

Zuko begins panicking at noon.

Suki was called in for work at her mixed marital arts dojo on emergency and so she can’t be here now to calm him down.

For all the shit he talks about her — in his head of course, he wouldn’t be alive to suffer in this moment, otherwise— , he’s completely lost without her presence. He isn’t sure what to wear, he isn’t sure when Katara will be ready, he isn’t sure if it’s okay to text her to ask, he isn’t sure if it’s weird for him to ask Sokka about her, he isn’t sure if he should bail last minute and just ask Suki to drive them all, he isn’t sure if that would blow his chances with Katara.

Really, he isn’t sure about anything.

He flops backward onto his bed, groaning as his hands come up to knead the heels of his palms into his face.

He sucks at this. He really does. But he realizes he should probably make one decision that seems the least likely to cause him a world’s worth of regret later.

He picks up his phone from beside him and scrolls through his screen to find her contact. Suki had given him Katara’s number after she’d gotten it at the party, he hopes she won’t mind her information being shared around.

He sighs out, typing a message quickly and pressing send before he can psych himself out.

**hey, it’s zuko. got your number from suki:)** ****

He stares at it for a long while.

_Who even uses smiley faces like that anymore? Great, now you look like a creep. Or sarcastic. Which is worse?_

Before he can throw away his phone and burn a whole into his sheets, he hears a ding.

**hey! can’t wait for tonight!!** ****

_Woah… Three exclamation marks._ That gives him some confidence.

**me either. what time should i pick you up?**

**oh and uh where?** ****

She texts him back the time and her address minutes later and Zuko pats himself on the back for a job well done. That is until she texts him again.

**do i need to bring anything?** ****

Zuko can’t tell for the life of him if she’s trying to make conversation or is genuinely asking. After all, she’d grown up in the South Pole and then moved to a bustling city of skyscrapers. Doesn’t seem like she’d experienced beach bonfires. So he let’s his doubtful mind use his reasoning.

**no.** ****

He wonders if that looks too cold, he definitely doesn’t like using emojis but what he just sent looks so bland and blunt. Two letters and a full stop. Now he looks like an asshole. Perfect.

He decides he can’t make this any worse so he double texts.

**you’re enough.**

Nope, he just made it worse.

When she emerges from her front door, Zuko thinks his heart might beat out of his chest. He shouldn’t be so nervous and he definitely shouldn’t be shuffling his feet by his car like he’s hesitantly picking her up for prom but here he is doing exactly that.

She quickly walks over to him, eyes watching him the whole time. Her hair is open, small braids with beads pulled into them are pulled away from her face and pinned at the back of her head. She’s wearing a crimson spaghetti strap tank top, a long flowing skirt and a small beach bag, all in the same shade.

Zuko has never liked his favourite colour more.

She smiles up to him, “I didn’t pack any chips or anything. Y’know cause _I’m enough._ ”

He drops his head backward onto the car, thunking it against the window a few times, “Never. Texting. Again.”

She laughs, “Aw come on you can’t deprive me of your,” she searches for the right word, “ _passionate_ words.”

He shakes his head, grinning, “You’re right, who am I to deny Master Katara anything.” ****

She rolls her eyes, opening the door to the passenger’s side and taking her seat.

The drive is mostly filled with the sound of Katara’s playlist that Zuko had suggested she put on mostly because he could not bear ten minutes of silence.

Occasionally, she asks about where he lives, what high school is like here and his car. He tells her that he lives about a twenty minute walk away from the beach with his uncle and sister— she doesn’t question it, which he is thankful for. He says that there’s only a few high schools on this island and that his is probably the worst in terms of teachers and kids, though that’s what everyone say about their respective school. He says the car is his uncle’s and he’s borrowed it for the night.

He _doesn’t_ mention that his uncle took him off the insurance ever since he got into an accident last year. He just prays the universe is on his side and he doesn’t get pulled over.

When they arrive at the beach some of the people invited have already arrived. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are standing close to the pit they’ve fashioned and the non-benders have just finished arranging the wood before Azula strikes it with fire long enough for it catch. There are long logs that Ruon Jian and Chan are lugging over towards the fire. Jet and his little gang are fussing over the food and drinks. Haru stands off to the side, trailing behind a girl Zuko thinks is named Jin and asking her if she needs any help. At the edge of the parking space he spots Suki and Sokka, leaning against her car that has its trunk open, showing off how its filled with more snacks and more drinks.

Katara and Zuko approach them and only get to speak to them briefly before they’re called over by Azula who begins to yell for Suki to hurry up. They lug the supplies over, through the sand and to the fire bender. Ty Lee has set up a speaker by the time the sun has completely set and the drinks start getting passed around.

Zuko and Sokka retreat with the other boys nearer the coast to ‘look for shit to throw in the fire, haha.’ Katara and Suki are pulled over to talk with the girls that have just now arrived.

Surprising to Katara, Azula sits through most of the conversation silently and simply listens. She notices that Zuko’s sister looks to be appraising people, trying to find all their faults and perfections before proceeding with any kind of direct action. She wonders if it is a natural behaviour or one she was forced into learning.

Mai is quiet in a different way. Just like the night at the party, her voice never raises or falters. There is clear monotony like she is inexplicably bored with the situation, which prompts Katara to question why the girl ever even comes to all these social gatherings.

However, when she sees Ty Lee lean into the girl’s side and tease her — to which Mai simply bats away or indulges slightly — she thinks she can see what’s pulling her out with all these people. If she looks closely enough, she thinks Ty Lee’s loud and cheery voice sometimes manages to pull a small smile on Mai’s face. It is fleeting, but Katara catches it. She wonders if that’s what Azula is looking for too when she watches Ty Lee.

Eventually, the conversation between the girls shifts to something about exchange students coming in to their high school this fall, to which Suki becomes particularly disinterested.

 _Might as well give it a shot now_ , Katara thinks.

“Suki,” the girl turns in response, “have you grown up here your whole life?”

The girl nods, “Yeah, my parents actually had me back in Kyoshi Island but my dad got promoted and they wanted him in the head office so we moved right after.”

“Oh wow, so you and Zuko have known each other for a while or like since highschool?”

Suki watches her, notices the tentative gaze in her blue eyes and bites her lip to stop from smirking because she can see through exactly what Katara is trying.

“Yeah, we grew up together.”

The girl chews at the inside of her cheek, trying to phrase her words carefully, “So you guys must be really close, huh?”

“I guess so. Our families were never close but that’s a whole other thing,” she shakes her head, “But yeah we’re kind of each other’s only other person, y’know? We’ve been through pretty much everything together.”

“Oh…” Katara nods in response, looking away and running her fingers through her hair to distract herself.

It’s hilarious to Suki how hopelessly enamoured they are with each other. She almost doesn’t feel bad for the dejected look on her face. Almost.

She leans over to the water bender to whisper in her ear, “Don’t worry, we’re not dating. Fire boy is yours.”

Katara whips her head to her, “W-What! I didn’t—”

Suki laughs out, “Please, as if I would _ever_ be with Zuko. He’s like my brother, when I say we’ve been through everything together I mean it literally. Diaper changes, throwing up in kindergarten, Iroh’s ‘adult talk’,” she shudders, “Everything.”

The brunette is still completely shocked from the girl figuring her out so quickly, unable to form any kind of coherent response, “No, no, Suki, I don’t—"

“You do!” she pats Katara on the back, smiling proudly.

“Suki—”

“He really likes you too, by the way.”

That shuts her up for good.

Katara looks away, face burning up from the embarrassment. Suki bursts into another fit of laughs.

The boys make it back a while later, hands filled with seaweed, missing clothes, and other trash. Zuko’s hands are stuffed into his pockets, not wanting to pick up random disgusting items from the beach, no matter how much The Duke and Pipsqueak implore him to ‘look for treasures’.

He makes his way over to the makeshift benches that are the logs and grabs the marshmallow bag and a drink for himself. He takes a seat, and begins sticking the soon-to-be gooey snacks onto the skewers Haru had brought. Around him, the other teens move about, following his cue, shuffling through the bags looking for chips and throwing around the snacks they find.

Even over the loud music blasting nostalgic 90’s pop into the night air, his ears are focused on the crackling of the fire and the arms of flames that slowly cook the marshmallow from white to brown. He can pick up on drunken laughter and yelling around him and prays someone has the right idea to move the person away from the bonfire.

His eyes are trained on the reds and oranges of the fire. He plays with it a little, pulling out a little flame and twisting it into curling shapes before he clenches his fist and makes it pop a little like a small firework.

He hears someone sit beside him and turns his head to the right.

“Hey,” Katara says, taking her place next to him— awfully close, he notes, though he welcomes it.

“Hi,” he answers, voice a little raspy from yelling with the other boys earlier and then staying silent for so long.

She locks his gaze for a second before she looks forward, tilts her head and leans over, “Marshmallow?”

He nods, “Yeah, you’ve had one before?”

“Just raw,” she shrugs.

Zuko pulls the skewer back to him, checking it for any burns and then hands it to her, “Try it.”

Without hesitation she takes a bite, “Ow!” she sticks her tongue out, trying to cool it from the heat.

He laughs, “You’re supposed to blow on it! I just took it out.”

“You told me to try it!”

“Not immediately!” he pulls the skewer back again, his fingers brushing hers, “Here, I’ll cool it.”

“Cool?,” she questions but hands it to him anyway.

He hovers his palm above the snack, and pulls. Slowly, a little stream of smoke emerges and Zuko continues to pull on it before pushing it away completely. He hands it back to her.

“Now it’s perfect for your Majesty.”

She rolls her eyes and takes a bite, then hums, “Much better.”

He smiles to himself. She catches it and smiles back.

In the darkness, only illuminated by the flames roaring beside them he thinks that he’d like to stay here with Katara forever. Listen to her sweet voice tell him stories about her life in a city far away from here. Watch the way her face lights up when she discovers something new in the island that has become all too familiar to him, especially that. He wants to show her all of Ember Island’s little secrets so she has a memorable experience. So she never forgets this place and all the remarkable things about it. So she never forgets him either.

She shuffles a little closer after finishing her marshmallow, placing the skewer away. Katara leans into Zuko’s side and rests her head against his shoulder.

He swallows, head snapping to look to the fire because he definitely will _not_ be able to handle having her face so near his.

“Katara?”

“It’s cold, Zuko.”

It most definitely is not cold at all. It is the peak of summer in the Fire Nation and they’re seated in front of a raging fire thats so many feet tall.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You’re supposed to be a human heater aren’t you?” she snuggles into him further.

Zuko chews on his lip, unsure if what he wants to do next is stupid, too overbearing, or anticipated.

He sighs out, hand coming towards hers. He brushes the back of their hands together, waiting for her to pull away. She doesn’t.

He intertwines their fingers. She holds his hand tightly.

Opposite them, many steps away, two boys steal glances their way. One in relief, the other in annoyance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked this chapter! let me know your thoughts in the comments !! <3


	4. stars and skies

Zuko stands right where the sand of the beach meets the sea, hands crossed over his chest. Sokka and Suki are having a water fight, splashing each other with the water they’re submerged in and half-laughing, half-screaming as they do so. Katara stands on top of her water bended board, hands on her hips watching Zuko.

“You’re a lifeguard and you don’t know how to surf?” she quirks a brow with a teasing grin.

“I have to swim to save people not surf!” Zuko says defensively.

“C’mon! It’s so easy!” she reaches forward and tugs on his wrist.

He doesn’t relent, yanking back, “It’s easy for you to say you’re a waterbender!”

Katara’s hand drops from his, an annoyed gaze pulling on her face.

_Shit._

Zuko panics, thinking he screwed up whatever bit of a relationship he was able to salvage. Katara must think he’s insulting her skill, that he thinks she’s not actually that good. She’ll want nothing to do with him and—

“Then if I show you I can use a real surf board you’ll let me teach you?” she smirks slightly.

He blinks and then nods quickly, “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

She does show him, and of course she’s perfect at surfing with a self-made water board or just a regular one. She’s Katara, after all.

The surfing lesson that ensues is embarrassing. Zuko can’t seem to balance himself on his board and anytime Katara makes the slightest wave he stumbles and falls to the side. Before he can give up, she decides to take a different approach. She tells him to try one last time and if he really can’t stay standing for at least ten seconds, she won’t push him anymore .

This time as he paddles out to catch another wave, she follows along with him and waits. The wave pulls up and he jumps to place his feet on the board. Katara quickly bends the water around him to pull his ankles down and plant him firmly onto his surfboard. Once he’s standing she drags the water away and makes herself a waterboard to stand on, surfing alongside him. He wobbles a little and she leans over slightly, tapping at his hand and gesturing to spread his arms wide for balance.

And he does, he manages to surf the whole wave. When he descends there’s an astonished smile plastered on his face as turns to Katara. She doesn’t mention her help in cheating his way over the water.

“I did it!” he wades over to her.

“I told you! Easy!”

He laughs, watching little droplets of water trail down her face as she smiles up to him.

Sokka falls in between them, yelling at Suki for cheating.

Later, as they get dry back on the coast, Suki approaches Zuko.

“So…” she looks at him and angles her head to point to Katara.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb,” she scolds.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he shrugs, rubbing his blue towel in his hair.

“Sokka saw you guys last week, cuddling up by the bonfire.”

Zuko’s hand freezes in his hair before he yells, “We weren’t cuddling!”

Suki rolls her eyes, “Yeah, sorry… you were just snuggling.”

“Shut up! Ugh!” he launches his towel at her and it falls on top her head.

“Ew,” she pulls it off and gags, dropping it to the ground to get infested with sand and bugs, “Anyway, have you asked her yet?”

“Asked her what?”

“On a date, Zuko, what else?”

His eyes widen exceptionally fast, “What— No. Did she say she wanted me to?”

She facepalms, “You’re so hopeless. She’s not going to _ask_ you to ask her out… You just have to do it.”

He bites on his lip, turning his head only slightly to see Katara from the corner of his eye, “I don’t know. What if she’s not that into me?”

“If she’s not into you why does she look at you like you just graced the whole world with peace and prosperity.”

So he gives in.

Once the sun dips below the horizon, Zuko sprints from his shift, lifeguarding uniform on and whistle beating against his chest as he runs toward the Water Tribe siblings. They’re packing away their things for the day and making their way home.

He shuffles quietly once he gets to them. She turns, eyes lighting up immediately. Sokka looks between them, smirks and walks away.

“Hey Katara.”

“Hi Zuko.”

He takes a deep breath, mustering up his courage.

“Can I take you out? On the boardwalk. Tomorrow night. Just you and me.”

The widest smile he’s ever seen graces her face, “I’d like that.”

He feels like he’s soaring, “Great.”

She pulls his hand into hers and squeezes tightly as a teasing smirk makes it’s way on her face, “Do I need to bring anything?”

He lets out a laugh, “No. You’re enough.”

Katara giggles, waiting just a minute longer, just enough to memorize this moment: the slowest and warmest breeze blowing through Zuko’s hair, the sweetest and shyest grin on his face, the warmth of his hand in hers.

She lets go, “I’ll see you.”

He nods, “See you.”

The next evening, as crimson, amber, and rose light pours into his vision he sees Katara approach him where he stands at the beach. He swallows, nerves slipping away and leaving him totally frozen in place. She’s wearing a long blue dress, white sneakers on her feat and a matching purse hooked on her shoulder. She greets him, immediately holds onto his arm and asks him to lead the way.

They make it to the boardwalk, bright neon lights burn into their eyes as stalls boast unbeatable games, food trucks ring with orders called out, and laughs erupt from the line to the rides. The atmosphere holds cheer and amusement, and it compliments perfectly Katara’s wide eyed astonishment. He smiles to himself, heart fluttering.

For their date, Zuko indulges Katara in the best Fire Nation street food, brings her to play his favourite — and least rigged— games, takes her to the best places to get merchandise, shows her the special spots with lighting arranged in the shape of phoenixes and fire and leads her to his favourite spot to watch the expanse of sea.

Her blue eyes shine through it all, asking questions every few minutes, pulling him back when something catches her eye, telling him the similar kind of games she’s played and flavours she’s tasted back home, reaching out to touch the fairy lights above them, and being completely pulled into the sight of her element in all its great splendour.

Later, she thinks, when it catches her eye at the very end of the boardwalk, that Zuko will take her to the ferris wheel to pull off the perfect date she’s seen in all the movies.

But he doesn’t, after all, he isn’t the boy they write romance novels about.

He’s different.

He tugs her back to where they came from, “I want to show you something,” and his voice is barely a whisper.

They make their way back to the beach conversing about all the things Katara liked about the boardwalk and all the new addition Zuko just noticed. Once they have approached the parking area, the two teenagers pull off their shoes and make their way through the sand as guided by Zuko.

He tells her to stop, halfway to the water, turns in front of her and tells her to close her eyes. She raises an eyebrow but does it all the same.

She hears him step a few feet away, a plastic bag crinkles and then the sound of him shuffling around through the sand fills her ears. She hears something being lit, the crinkle of the bag again and more shuffling. Then, he speaks.

“Okay, you can look.”

When she opens her eyes her heart jumps.

Zuko stands next to his arrangement, several candles lined up together, their flames pulled high and bent to form the shape of a heart. The reds, oranges and yellows dance against the sky and sea behind it, burning with all the passion. It’s beautiful, and in the darkness illuminated by his heartfelt work Katara thinks she finds herself feeling like she wants to drown in the boy that controls fire.

“Zuko…”

The silence is deafening but he hopes the wonder on her face means she likes it.

“I hope its not like… too cringe or anything— I just wanted to—”

“I love it,” she cuts him off, walking right up to him, “It’s perfect.”

“Really?” he blinks, still unsure.

“Yes,” she smiles, “I love it so much. It’s adorable, you’re adorable.”

Red races onto Zuko’s face and he laughs shyly, unsure how to process her compliment.

“There’s one more thing,” he extinguishes the candles and lies on the sand.

Her brows draw together for a second, in question, but she follows suit, head pressed into the ground as she waits for him to speak.

“Up there,” he raises his chin to point.

She looks up.

Far away from the light pollution of the boardwalk, it’s dark enough for her to make out the little sparkles of light embroidered into the black and blue abyss of the universe above them. She watches them twinkle and compliment the crescent moon that sits far to the right, hovering over rock formations at the edge of the coast.

“I wanted you to know how elegant and pretty fire can be, if you just think from your heart. And the beauty of the moon and the stars, like the world was made just to marvel it. I know neither of these are things I can give you, but I wanted to show you anyway… I think memories are good gifts too.”

She smiles at his words, warmth exploding in her heart as she turns her head slightly to watch his eyes shine as they watch the sky.

“That’s the constellation of Wan, as old as the first Avatar,” he points to the right, it is bright and burning with all of its might millions of miles away.

She nods as she looks back up.

His hand moves to the left, “And there, the two stars so close to each, they’re named after Raava and Vaatu because they always appear so close together. Like the eternal dance they have between each other.”

“I never knew the stories of the stars in the Fire Nation.”

His lips quirk up, “I only know some.”

He looks at her from the corner of his eye, and his heart beats a little harder. He looks back up again.

“My mother used to tell me that when the world came into being, the first dragon had his love ripped away from him. He was so furious he wanted to destroy everything, he blew fire into the ground, making lava that cooled into our islands, then into the air, causing a warmth that never leaves our nation, then with the last of his power he flew up and unleashed fury that ripped him apart from the inside. It was so strong it left the last bits of his fire imprinted in the night sky as stars.”

She turns to him fully, leaning on her elbow, “That’s so beautiful.”

He turns to her, his eyes searching hers. Blue pierces into gold, like he’s never seen before, the kind that glows in the moonlight and brings a wave of calm and foreign serenity. His heart tugs in his chest and he feels like this — what he has with her — it’s something special. Something they write about in old Fire Nation poems, something artists can only dream of illustrating, something you only find once in a lifetime.

She leans forward, if only to pick out all the golden shades of his eyes. Her vision darts down to his lips and then flicks back up, heart hammering in her chest. His eyes are blown wide as he watches her, waiting.

Katara’s phone blares her ringtone from her purse and she clenches her eyes shut in annoyance.

Zuko snaps his head away.

She picks it up and her voice is sharp, “What, Sokka?”

“Dad’s wondering when you’ll be back, its getting late.”

“Oh yeah, _dad_ is, not my nosey brother.”

“Your nosey _older_ brother that’s just looking out for you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Come home—”

“Ugh!” she hangs up.

Katara sheepishly turns to Zuko, an apologetic look pasted on her face.

He smiles back regardless of their ended night.

He stands and gives her his hand to help her up, “I’ll walk you home.”

“Thank you,” she takes it and stands beside him, not letting go.

They walk back like that, hand in hand, shoulders brushing, and glances stolen with shy smiles, as they make their way through the sand, between the streets of beach houses and finally to Katara’s porch.

Zuko can easily see Sokka’s eyes darting out from behind the curtain on the inside of the living room window, narrowed on the firebender and his sister. Katara notices him too and rolls her eyes before she turns back to her date.

“I loved everything about tonight, Zuko.”

“Me too,” he breathes out, “I really, really liked it.”

They watch each other for a few moments, both memorizing this feeling like their life depends on it.

Sokka thumps on the window and says something that comes out muffled. Katara whips her head around and glares at her brother.

She looks back to Zuko and squeezes his hand, “Good night.”

He squeezes back, “Good night, Katara.”

And he turns, walking away from the girl who’s definitely stolen his heart.

Katara watches him go, biting her lip at the butterflies in her stomach. Sokka retreats to his room, satisfied with Zuko’s good behaviour.

Before she can turn to go into her home a voice rounds the corner, “Nice date?”

Her brows pull together in confusion, “Jet? How do you know where I live?”

“Deduction,” he shrugs, making his way up her steps without asking.

She takes a step back, “Why’re you here?”

He smirks, “I just wanted to ask how well Zuko’s fooling you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Katara. You’re not stupid. Tell me you can see through this dumb shy boy act.”

She crosses her arms, annoyance bubbling through her, “There’s no act.”

“Please, he’s absolutely playing you and you can’t even tell?”

“Jet, I think it’s time for you to leave.”

He takes a step forward, “I’m just looking out for you… I don’t want you to get hurt by him,” his hand comes out to rest on her shoulder but she slaps it away.

“I said to go.”

“Katara, I’m serious. The guy is bad news. He’s just going to string you along, use you and then forget about you.”

“Shut up, you don’t know him. That’s nothing like him,” anger burning up her throat like poison.

Jet stops, letting out a hearty chuckle, “I don’t? I grew up with him! This is what he does. This is what he’s always done.”

“I don’t believe you.”

She can’t, not when Zuko is so hesitant and never pushes and is so gentle with her. Not when he pours his soul out in the few quiet moments they get. Not when he looks at her like she put all his favourite stars in the sky.

“You think you’re the first pretty girl to come to this tourism hub of an island?”

Katara scowls, heart clenching in fear of what he’ll say next.

“He finds a new girl every summer to play with, and then he gets his way, and then their vacation ends and there’s no consequences!”

She steps away from him, back hitting her door. She wants to tell herself it’s all lies, but her heart is dropping anyway.

“Why do you think Mai is so mad at him? Because he picks her up as his girlfriend every fall and drops her right before summer,” he shakes his head in annoyance as he speaks dryly, “Gotta give it to the guy, at least he’s not a cheater.”

Her hands fist at her sides, gaze piercing the ground as the memories of the night of the party flood back to her.

“Suki too, they’re in it together. Why do you think they don’t have any other close friends? No one wants to be associated with that shit.”

Auburn hair and a bright smile slip into her mind, she doesn’t want to think their friendship was a lie too— something meant to keep up an act.

“Trust me, Katara.”

She doesn’t want to.

But still.

She turns around, storms inside, and shuts the door on his face.

A storm rages through her mind and her heart burns.

So much for a relaxing vacation.


	5. punches

Zuko panics even when people reassure him that whatever he’s doing is fine. He panics in the face of any kind of rejection, even after he’s met with acceptance. He panics even when Katara is standing right in front of him, smiling and blushing like she always does.

So now, in the radio silence that has drowned their relationship, his mind is running a million miles.

He falls backward onto his bed and picks up his phone, again, for the thirtieth time this hour.

No reply from Katara.

It’s been a week.

She hasn’t spoken to him since their date, not one snarky text or meme or emoji sent his way. Zuko had given into his anxious mind the evening after and wrote her a message asking if she’d come by the beach the during his shift. And he waited. But nothing. He’d texted again saying that he’d take her out for ice cream if she’d like, that it didn’t have to be a date if she didn’t want it to be. He texted her one last time asking if he did something.

But there was never any responses.

He’d stopped after that. He didn’t want to bother her, he didn’t want to seem overbearing or possessive. If she was done with him, then he couldn’t fight it.

She doesn’t come to the beach anymore, even though Sokka does. Zuko would care more for the fact that he becomes a third wheel sitting on the side of Suki and Sokka’s conversation every day, but he can’t focus on anything but Katara. Whenever Zuko asks for her, her brother shrugs, says she just didn’t want to go out, and then rolls his eyes when he says she’s wasting her summer.

He still wants to have hope, despite all of it.

He wants to think Katara wouldn’t leave him like that, like he’s been left before.

He draws out a long sigh, dropping his phone on his face and not even caring.

Suki makes a tsk sound and peels it away from him.

“Nothing?”

He shakes his head, “Nothing.”

She frowns, tight lipped and unsure of what to say.

“Did I say something wrong?” he sits up, looking down to his hands and trying to remember every detail of that night, “I would know if I did right? She’d get mad in front of me… Or look sad… Or something? She seemed fine — happy, I think — all the way home and even when I left. So what was it?”

“Zuko…”

He turns to her, “Did I screw it up?”

Her eyes dart away for a second, “I… I don’t think so.”

“I must have,” he frowns, sadness setting in and a knife of guilt sticking into his gut, “She probably hates me now.”

“Zuko,” she places her hands on his shoulders, “I don’t know why she’s gone all silent but it could be anything: maybe she’s busy, or she’s sick, or she’s having problems with someone back home. You don’t know everything going on in her life, alright? You can’t just keep blaming yourself for everything.”

He nods, even though his mind doesn’t want to believe Suki’s words. It’s always been easier for him to reduce all the problems in his life as his mistakes.

“You should clear your head,” she tries, speaking slowly in the way she knows is the best to get through to him.

He fiddles with the edge of his shirt, eyes turned down in sadness.

“Sokka said he got invited out for this thing Jet,” he grimaces at that, “and the boys are holding tomorrow. Maybe it’d do you good to just get drunk and eat expired chips or whatever they do.”

He lets out half a laugh and looks up.

Suki’s face is soft and concerned, she hates to see him so upset. And when there’s someone that cares enough about him to try at all, Zuko always feels indebted.

“Okay. Okay, sure.”

She grins, “Good! I’ll tell Sokka to tell you the time and everything!”

Zuko raises a brow, “You’re not coming?”

She shrugs, “Not invited.”

His eyes blow wide, “You? Not invited? How is that possible? What happened in this past week, like is mercury in retrofusion or whatever you tweet about?”

She lands soft punch on his shoulder, rolling her eyes, “Shut up. No, I was not invited. Sokka said it was a guys only kinda thing, I think. You should still go.”

He mulls over it for a minute, “I guess, if Sokka’s going… Speaking of, what’s happening between you two.”

Pink graces cheeks as she lets out a shy laugh, “Oh… Um, yeah it’s good,” she smiles to herself, “Yeah, he’s really sweet and funny and y’know what? Even though he doesn’t look it, he’s pretty smart.”

Zuko raises a brow, “Really? Now that last bit is a little hard to believe.”

“Whatever, you’re dumber. All you stupid boys are…” she trails off, looking down as she tugs at the thread sticking out from Zuko’s quilt.

“But?” he presses on.

She releases a breath, “But, I really like him. And I think he really likes me. You know, he said he didn’t want it to end — the summer — ‘cause he doesn’t wanna leave me. I said we’d see each other in uni, if he still wanted and he said he did,” she looks up, eyes shaking almost, “He said he doesn’t want to let me go.”

Zuko smiles then, happiness blooming in his chest for his best friend, “I’m happy you found him, Suki.”

“Me too,” she smiles back.

Then she slaps his back, “Okay now put your streaming website on, we’re watching Jennifer’s Body."

The drive over is short, Sokka had asked him to pick him up on the way and Zuko obliged.

As much as Zuko wants to forget the way to Jet’s house, it still hasn’t escaped his memory. He remembers when they’d be forced to see each other the times that their fathers were doing business together. Back when his father hadn’t run away yet and there wasn’t an open investigation on his corruption. Jet and him would be forced to sit in on the meetings, listening, taking notes — though they were never of much value — and shooting each other annoyed glances.

When Sokka rings the bell, The Duke is the one to open the door and lead him to the basement. After they descend the stairs, Jet notices their presence and shoots Zuko a sharp narrowed glare. Zuko doesn’t think much of it and settles into the couch where Sokka has already taken a place.

“I thought this was _guys_ night…” Sokka whines.

Zuko only tears his gaze away from Jet now. He looks around in the dimly lit lower level of the house. Opposite them, beside where Jet sits on a red armchair, Longshot and Pipsqueak are seated at a couch that is tinted blue — or faded blue, he can’t really tell. At another sofa, this one much smaller but the same shade, sits Haru and someone Zuko doesn’t recognize.

Sokka leans closer to _very obviously_ get a better look. And all the attention is brought to the stranger.

The girl is frowningly impatiently, staring off into a space that’s in the general direction of middle of the room, like she’s already bored.

Haru sighs beside her, melting into the couch with something like embarrassment.

“Sorry guys,” Haru sighs out, avoiding everyone’s, but especially Jet’s, gaze, “I know we said guys night but my mom busted me for coming home drunk from the bonfire. She said I can’t go out unless I take my cousin and babysit—”

His cousin jabs an elbow into his side and smiles, “I’m Toph!”

The others look between themselves, mumbling their greetings back.

The awkwardness in the humid atmosphere of Jet’s basement disappears when he brings out the snacks — the smell makes Zuko think they really are expired — and the drinks. Toph shouldn’t be drinking and she definitely shouldn’t be _drunk_ but Haru can’t get close enough to stop her before she threatens to call his mom and expose the whole thing.

Jet and the others are mumbling something about getting motorcycles and spray-painting them all with their insignia. Zuko doesn’t know where they’d get the money for that, but he’d rather not question the finances of the self-proclaimed _Freedom Fighters._ He still laughs when he hears that name.

Zuko takes Suki’s advice and tries to focus on the video games instead of all the turmoil in his mind. Sokka really sucks in these 1v1 fighter games, but he has a persevering heart which makes him shout ‘Ok one more match, one more!’ no matter how many times and how badly he loses.

It’s easy, he thinks, to drink and — hesitantly — eat and focus only on the stupid conversations that are passing through the air. His mind drifts away from water benders that beckon all the sea wherever they go.

Well, at least for a little while.

After Sokka loses against him a few more times and explodes into a fit of rage claiming that the other boy cheated, Zuko feels his phone buzz. He fingers almost jolt to pull out his phone as he slides it open.

A message from Azula.

**what do you know about ty lee and mai’s relationship?** ****

He sighs out. That’s a problem for another day.

He taps his way to Katara’s conversation anyway, maybe he missed the notification over all the yelling Sokka has been doing for the past two hours.

Nothing.

He sighs out.

“Checking up on someone?” Jet claps his shoulder from behind him.

Zuko looks up from the corner of his eye to where Jet is standing — mostly swaying.

He shuts his phone and stuffs it back into his pocket, then looks up to stare at him defiantly.

Jet watches him for a second, his eyes look briefly to Sokka who is darting glances their way. He smirks.

“Don’t tell me you’re still terrorizing, Katara…”

Zuko looks away and scowls as he clenches his fist, he doesn’t want to pick a fight with Jet. He needs to keep his temper in check, no matter the instigation.

“What? You don’t talk anymore?” he slurs, “You should leave her alone.”

“Don’t worry about what I do,” Zuko finally responds.

“You can’t tell me you seriously think she’d go for you,” Jet leans into his space.

“Back off, Jet,” Zuko grunts, shoving the boy away.

Now he’s angry, smirk slipping away and voice raising, “You back off! Forget Katara. I know her and I’m telling you. You're not what she wants.”

“You don’t need to tell me anything. She can decide for herself what she wants.”

He laughs, “You think she wants _you_ , Zuzu?” the fire bender cringes at the nickname, “Your own parents don’t want you.”

Zuko’s teeth clench.

“That’s why your mom ran away, that’s why your Dad bolted.”

“Shut up!” he stands, eyes level now with Jet. Still, his hands stay still at his sides.

He shakes his head slowly, “You’re so fucking stubborn, you know that. That’s what you got from your dad.”

“I’m nothing like my dad.”

“Maybe you’re worse,” he sneers, leaning close to pierce him with his glare.

Zuko pushes him backward, hard enough to fall to the ground.

Jet gets up and throws the first punch.

The drive home is mostly silent. Zuko’s lower lip is burst open and pain throbs around his scarred eye. Sokka sits in the passenger side, making sense of the evening in the quiet. Beach houses and palm trees blur past and all the traffic lights are green to go. It is dead outside, like the spirit of the island has suffered just as much tonight.

“Hey.”

Zuko glances over in response, tongue darting out occasionally to lick away the blood dripping out of his lip.

“He’s kind of a jerk, huh?”

The fire bender lets out a laugh but it is void of emotion, “I guess, yeah.”

Sokka frowns, “Sorry, man.”

Zuko raises a brow in his direction, eyes flicking back to the road soon after.

“For the shit he said. I don’t know everything, I get that, but… It was fucked up,” the Water Tribe boy says slowly.

The hum of the engine fills the air between them, no sounds for long moments.

“It doesn’t matter,” he puts simply.

Because he’s heard it before. All of it. And even worse.

“For what it’s worth, you totally won the fight.”

Zuko’s lips quirk up as he shakes his head slowly.

Within minutes, the tires rub against the road as he comes to a halt in front of the rented out beach house. The other boy reaches over, squeezes Zuko’s shoulder tightly and then leaves the car.

That night, Sokka tells his sister about the incident in Jet’s basement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more drama!! love it heh
> 
> as always, i love reading your comments so much so please do let me know your thoughts!!


	6. memories

Katara doesn’t know what to make of it.

Since it happened, she hasn’t told Sokka about what Jet said to her because she isn’t sure if any of it is even true. Despite the little faith she has in that boy, somehow, his words linger in her mind.

The past week she’s been hiding out in their beach house, all she’s done is think. She’s tried to make sense of what Jet said, Suki’s sudden friendship with her, Zuko’s actions, his argument with Mai, their date, everything.

Katara always sees the best in people and maybe that’s why she’s only seen the good in Zuko. The sweet gestures, the hesitant touches, the insistent need to make her summer eventful. All of it. Everything about him makes her light up with joy and anticipation, makes her smile like no one else can, makes her want to cling to every moment so it never ends.

So when Sokka tells her that Jet picked a fight with Zuko, she wants to believe that it means Jet has ulterior motives — that he can’t possibly be someone she trusts.

But still.

Doubt is something that can poison a mind more open and pure than heavens above.

And Katara feels like she is completely at its whim.

A few days later, Katara starts going to the beach again because her father starts chastising her about wasting her time. She does her best not to look to the life guard’s post because she doesn’t have it in her to look into the face of what she still isn’t sure are lies.

It’s physically easy to avoid him, because he never chases after her or corners her somewhere to make her talk.

No, Zuko would never do something like that. He would never push for someone who doesn’t want him. He would never intimidate someone into loving him, maybe because he barely thinks he is tolerable himself.

It’s stopping herself from thinking about him that is hard. It hurts to skirt around the idea that she means nothing more to him than a summer fling, but it hurts more to distance herself from him.

The week after, she signs up for the surfing competition, the only tourist to even do so. She needs a win, she needs a distraction.

But this also means that she spends much longer on the beach in the coming days to practice. She gets up early, surfs from dawn to dusk, and only stops when Sokka returns from his dates with Suki to pick her up.

Even in the early morning light and the darkness of the evening, when the beach is silent and there isn’t a sound but the crashing of the waves, Zuko doesn’t approach her. He watches, looks away when their eyes meet, and drops his head a little— as if to apologize.

Katara isn’t ever sure what to do when his golden eyes watch her face like she is a deity. She doesn’t know if she wants him to look away, to run after her, or to leave her alone completely so that she doesn’t have to be tormented by false truths.

The day of the competition brings with it an air of cheer that Katara had forgotten. She notes there are many more people than usual, setting up mats on the beach, laughing between themselves and playing games as they wait to watch the competition. The food trucks and stalls are happily working away to give out orders to a hundred new mouths to feed. She sees Sokka and Suki are perched under a wide beach umbrella as they share a bowl of special Fire Nation kebab skewers.

Katara looks back to the water, preparing herself for the match as remembers her routine and studies the waves and the wind while she waits for the commencement.

The commentator begins introducing the island, the competition’s sponsors, and finally the participants.

It doesn’t resonate in her ears, her eyes are once again searching the coast unwillingly.

A part of her doesn’t want Zuko to be here, she doesn’t want to lose in front of him or let his presence psych herself out. But the other part of her wants so badly to have his support, even if he doesn’t say anything, even if he just watches from a far like usual. There’s something in his eyes when he looks at her, it makes her feel like she could do anything she set her heart to.

She spots him, he’s climbing to the top of the life guard’s chair to sit down for his shift. He brushes his hand through his hair and his eyes trail along the edge of the coast. Then he sees her.

He doesn’t wave, doesn’t give her a thumbs up, doesn’t make to go over to her.

He nods slowly, lips tight with an unsure smile. Something to wish her luck.

_He finds a new girl every summer…_

She looks away.

Katara comes in second place, though it’s an honourable loss as the winner is a retired semi-professional surfer. She receives a coupon for half off a group dinner at the beach’s sushi restaurant and a hug from the competition mascot that she’s less excited about.

Zuko’s shift is over by the time it all ends, she seems him standing behind Suki and Sokka as she approaches them.

The two engulf her in a hug as Sokka starts babbling out praises about how his sister wiped the ocean floor with everyone and how she definitely deserved first place. Suki laughs as Sokka delves into some conspiracy theory about how it must have been rigged against tourists. She tells her how well she did out there, that she’s never seen someone so good.

Katara accepts the compliments but her eyes keep getting pulled back to Zuko.

Sokka and Suki follow her gaze, share a look between themselves, and part from her. They make some excuse about getting more kebabs.

Zuko swallows.

Katara takes a step towards him.

“You were amazing out there.”

She tries not to smile, but her lips quirk up anyway, “Thanks.”

“Congratulations, Katara.”

And she can’t stand it. She hates how much she loves the way her name sounds on his lips, how well it matches with his raspy voice, how she wants him to call her name forever.

“Thank you, Zuko.”

And his name tastes even better on her tongue, like she was always meant to say it.

When she searches his face, all she can see is sadness that he tries so hard to hide. Like he thinks he’s gotten good at closing himself off after years of doing it.

She sees pain, anxiety and melancholy. She doesn’t see bitterness or anger or guilt. She can’t find anything swirling in his eyes that could explain why she would ever need to be afraid of him.

“We need to talk.”

His eyes widen slightly and he takes a shaky breath, “Okay.”

She tells him to wait until the beach empties, until the competition’s materials are cleaned away, until there is nothing left but them.

The sun is huge, it rests right above the water and its light is saturated like fire. It burns into Katara’s eyes as she sits right by the water, feet pressed into the wet sand as the slow waves of water brush against her feat. Her hair has mostly dried by now, slightly frizzy from the humidity but still sticking at her neck. She chews at the inside of her cheek, turmoil bubbling through her.

Zuko sits beside her crosslegged, silent as always, and looks out to watch the sea. The waves are much calmer now that the wind has slowed down for the looming night. His hands clench into the sand as lets his impatience and fear grip onto his heart, clumps of it stick to his skin in a sticky sensation but he can’t bring himself to care.

She turns to him finally watching him for a long while as her heart hurts, eyes begging when she speaks.

“Just...” she blinks hard, trying her best to make the stinging sensation go away before her eyes betray her, “Just be honest with me... Please.”

He blinks in shock. He doesn’t understand what he’s lied about.

“Of course, Katara. Of course,” his brows are furrowed, because she shouldn’t have to ask him that.

She heaves out a sigh, trying to find the right words as she traces her eyes over his face, “Jet talked to me.”

Zuko’s hands clench tighter into the sand.

“He told me that this is your... your _thing_. You play with girls every summer and then drop them.”

Heat erupts in his body, “Katara, that’s not—”

“That you don’t really care about me. And I was just the next girl in your trap,” her throat seizes up at the last part and she has to swallow to defeat the sensation.

“Katara, I would never—”

She cuts him off, “Im not done.”

He nods, eyes falling down in apology.

“He said that this is why you have so many problems with Mai.”

He looks back to her, frown painting his face.

“And I saw that Zuko, I saw it at the party so don’t try to tell me he was lying about that,” she feels like she’s choking on her own words.

His hands open, most of the sand falling from his palms.

“I just need to know what was true.”

He takes a deep breath, “Katara,” he pins her with his gaze, honey eyes pushing through her ice because she has to know, she has to see his honesty, “I never lied to you. I could never lie to you.”

Her lips tremble and her eyes blur.

“But I want to explain everything, even if you won’t believe me.”

She nods.

“Jet lied. I’ve only ever been with one person, just one, Mai and that’s it. I don’t flirt with tourists, I don’t—” he grimaces, “I don’t play girls or use them or anything like that. I don’t know how to talk to people let alone lead them on and lie and throw them away. You could ask anyone on this island, besides Jet’s little gang, and they’d tell you the same. I’m not whatever he said I am. I don’t know if he said all that because he wants to be with you or… Or if it’s just cause he hates me so much.”

Her brows furrow, “He hates you?”

“Our fathers… they used to do this business together, since we were kids. We never really got along but it didn’t matter cause we had to be in each other’s company a lot since our fathers wanted us to learn from them. Later, once my father was put under investigation for corruption and insider trading, he took Jet’s father down with him. My dad liquidated everything and ran. His dad went to jail.”

Katara’s eyes widen.

“And I know. I know my dad’s awful and fucked up and an asshole. Jet deserves to hate me. I have to live with it. Just like I live through everything else,” he looks away.

She frowns and she wants so badly to reach out and comfort him, even if she’s still so confused. She doesn’t want to see him so broken.

He takes a breath and begins again, “My relationship with Mai is more complicated. But it’s not what Jet said. We’ve broken up a couple of times in the past but this time, in spring, it was final. I took time for myself, I tried to shut her out so that I could understand for myself why I was constantly coaxed into getting back with her all the time. I learnt a lot since then…” he sighs, “I learnt that we weren’t meant to be together at all.”

Katara tilts her head to try and meet his gaze where he burns holes into the sand in front of him.

“She was one of my few friends growing up and when I was going through a bad time,” he takes a shaky breath, “a really bad time, she was there for me.”

He looks to her then, as if to figure out if it’s safe to be so vulnerable right now.

And just like always, everything about Katara is so comforting to him. So he speaks.

“My family is awful. My dad was possessive and abusive, physically and mentally. Azula and I would just hide away when he got mad. On the good days, he wouldn’t try to find us. On the bad days…”

He points to his scar.

Katara’s heart breaks.

“It hurt to just be alive in that environment… Eventually, my mom ran away cause she couldn’t handle it anymore and then a few years later is when my dad skipped town…”

A sick sensation swirls in his stomach at the thought of his twisted family, his traumas and the past he always wants to escape but never can, the experiences that have singed into his mind permanently.

“While it all happened, Mai was always there for me. Checking up on me and trying to distract me from everything at home. And when it was all over and Azula and I moved in with our uncle,I think I got confused. I mistook my feelings of gratefulness as reciprocating her affection. I didn’t really think of her more than just a good friend. But she did, and she loved me. And by that point I felt like I couldn’t back out because I owed her so much— because I didn’t want to lose her friendship. I didn’t want to lose someone else who loved me. Not again.

“So our relationship kept dragging on. Eventually, I couldn’t stand her. We fought too much, she hated how I worried about everything and I hated that she didn’t care about anything at all. It was unbearable. And the promises to do better every time we got back together were empty. I think we both knew it,” he shakes his head, “And then I ended it this year when my uncle and Suki kept telling me how toxic it was, how they were worried about me.”

“Zuko…” she speaks finally, sadness painting her face.

His eyes dart around her face anxiously, “I’m— I’m not good at this relationship stuff. I know that. Now you know that. But I never thought of this— us— as just,” he scrunches his brows, scowl coming out in disgust, “as some conquest or something like that.”

She watches him, unsure of what to say.

He swallows at the vice like grip on his throat, “I like you, Katara. A lot. Truly. And, if you don’t trust me— if you want me to leave you alone, that’s ok. I will.”

She spares him a long glance before turning back to the sea. Silence fills the space between them again, but it doesn’t pull them apart. She stares off into the water, that is now tinted orange from the darkening sky, as she tries to make sense of everything.

Her heart is upset, her head is throbbing and she feels like all of the world’s weight is pressing down on to her. There is so much to take in, so much to make sense of.

And she wants to believe him most of all. She wants to trust the boy with golden eyes and dark hair and a sad frown. She can’t help but feel like it’s unfair of her to let him stew in his confusion and sorrow in the face of seemingly false accusations. She thinks she just wants him to be happy, she wants to be happy, she wants them both to be happy.

But she isn’t sure how to make all of that happen at the moment.

Katara looks back to him.

“I think…” a shaky breath, “I just need time,” her eyes search his face.

Zuko watches her like it’ll be the last time he will ever get to see her, sad smile pasted onto his face. He paints himself a picture into his mind’s eye, how beautiful she looks by the sea and the sun, how not even confusion can spoil her splendour, how she is calming like her element and her aura soothes him like water on a burn.

He nods slowly, “I’ll wait for you. I’d always wait for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh we're approaching the end :')
> 
> please let me know your thoughts in the comments!! thank you for reading<3


	7. lovers

And he does wait. He waits for another long week.

Sokka tells Suki and Zuko one day that his family is planning to take a boat onto another island for volcano tours and hiking for a number of days.

Zuko doesn’t ask who’s idea it was. He doesn’t need to. He wants to give Katara all the space she needs.

And so begins a long wait in which Zuko is not filled with dread, but some strange sense of hope. He replays his and Katara’s moment at the beach continuously, he tries to remember how her hands rested so close to his, how she looked at him with trepidation then worry then some sort of relief. He wants to think that when her eyes twinkled right before she left, it meant something. That the universe was giving him assurance, trying to save him from completely throwing himself into the fires of his insecure mind.

He decides that he should reflect himself and realizes he should fix one last thing, permanently.

He asks Mai to sit down with him. For a real talk, no yelling or accusing or anything. He does his best to be neutral when he speaks, to accept his faults. She listens and, after a long while, apologizes for her own. It feels like a weight off his shoulders.

Zuko drowns himself in routine. He wakes up everyday, does his morning run, goes to work, saves maybe one life out of the ten so-called emergencies, gets food with Suki, blasts his indie music through his room, tries his hardest to console Azula over the news of Mai and Ty Lee getting together and falls asleep when the exhaustion of the day sets in.

He hears from Suki, during one of their scheduled movie nights, that Jet has been throwing a fit all weekend. She says his boys let it slip that Katara sent a very strongly worded, and maybe even insulting, text his way. Then she blocked him right after. Zuko can only nod in response, no words coming to mind.

Mostly, the days go by in a blur. And when he does think of Katara, when a little blossom of hope blooms in his chest like a fire lily in spring, he feels the world stop a little.

She wanted time. She didn’t say no — she didn’t say yes either but maybe, just maybe, he can be lucky for once. He wants to believe he gets to keep this little bit of happiness that has stumbled into his life.

For once when he’s at the beach, he’s not watching the sea, no, he’s looking up above to the sky. He’s floating on his back, no disturbance to be felt in the water or heard from the beach. Night is beginning to make its entrance as the sun starts to make its way to set slowly. Golden light pours over the coast, coating everything in the most beautiful colours of the nation. It is warm light, it is home.

He traces the shapes of the clouds with his eyes and tries to imagine what would it be like to live so high above everything, to be free of the restraints of gravity. He muses himself thinking about air benders jumping from cloud to cloud, gliding through winds and free falling through the atmosphere.

Suddenly, he hears someone wading his way as the sounds of water being pushed along fills his ears. He pulls his feet down and makes to stand in the shallow water. He turns, and after so long, there she is.

 _Katara_.

She raises her head slightly to meet his gaze and then her face is graced with the warmest smile.

“Hey, Zuko,” her eyes are open, inviting.

“Hi, Katara,” he thinks his soul is jumping in his body.

She watches him for a few seconds, swallowing once she finds her words.

“I…. did a lot of thinking.”

He nods, hanging on to every word.

“And,” she drops her hands into the water, searching, and then finally holding his, “I believe you, I trust you.”

He takes a sharp breath, heart bursting, “Really?”

Here it is, his once in a lifetime moment of luck. For all the terrible things he’s been through and all the broken relationships he’s had to deal with, here he is now— getting another chance, a better chance.

She smiles, “Yeah, and I can’t—” her voice cracks a little, “I can’t turn away from someone that tries so hard. That’s _so_ honest and patient and kind. That looks at me with so much affection. That would sacrifice his own happiness for mine.”

Her eyes glisten, “I can’t believe I found you, I can’t let you go.”

His heart is breaking in the best way, like she has pushed past his ribcage and pulled it out of his chest just to soothe it.

He squeezes her hands, swallowing back against his tight throat.

Then she gives him a pointed and teasing look and she teases a little weakly, “Any more enemies that want to sabotage you that I should know about.”

That pulls a laugh out of him.

“No,” he smiles, blinking a little to stop the sudden stinging in his eyes, “No. I promise. Just me and you, now.”

She edges closer to him, pulled in by the way his skin glows in the light and the way the vibrant yellows in his eyes dance.

He searches through the bright sea of blue in her eyes, “If you want, let’s start over. A new slate. I promise, no more secrets or dumb motorcycle boys getting in our way.”

She laughs, searching his face, eyes only stopping on his scar for a moment, “No. I don’t want to start over. I don’t want to give up all the memories we have.”

She squeezes his hands in hers.

“I like our story just the way it is.”

And for the first time, Zuko is bold. He looks at her for a long moment, pulls his hand up to stroke her cheek and then speaks.

“Can I kiss you?”

She leans in.

And their kiss is like dragon’s fire and moon’s tide mixing together. Strong, unrelenting, passionate but still gentle, a little hesitant, and sweet. It is all the emotions of waiting and pining and wanting and hurting and finding their ways back.

When they pull away, the last rays of sunset shine over between them. They light up the lips he’s just kissed and clash with the blue in her eyes for a show of vibrance like nature could never compare. She is more beautiful than any words could do justice, or brushstrokes could illustrate or songs could weave into their melodies.

And he can’t get enough of her.

So he kisses her again, leaning in much heavier and wrapping his arms around her waist as she does the same around his neck. She bends backwards slightly under his weight, giggling at his lips when she feels the water tickle her back.

This kiss is different, it is a promise. It is hope. It is trust.

And as he leans further in and she leans further back, they dip lower and lower. Not a care in the world.

Water engulfs them when they slip below the sealine and when Zuko peaks for just a second, he thinks he’d like to stay here forever. Katara in his arms, surrounded in her element, sun burning at his back.

They pull away for a moment, Katara thinks he looks much better in blue, _her_ blue. He is fire, yes, but he also has patience and acceptance and the will to adapt. He is her special kind of water.

And then they come back up to the air, little laughs pouring out of their mouths.

She looks up at him, hand moving slowly to stroke his cheek. Her thumb strokes his scar, gently, softly, like she is afraid he might crumble. He leans into her touch, eyes falling shut.

The remainder of Katara’s vacation is spent discovering all the local secrets of Ember Island. Zuko takes her to the markets, to dine in the most delicious restaurants, to swim through crystal coves, to scuba-dive into lush marine gardens, to visit small forgotten islands. Sokka puts his foot down for the last one, saying he won’t let his sister run away with her new boyfriend to an isolated island. He is easily placated when Zuko says him and Suki can come with them.

They stargaze again, on this lonely island caught in the middle of the large expanse of sea. Zuko tells her how, when him and Azula were very young and their father would get particularly upset when he called in from work, his mother would take them to the beach at night. She would tell them stories about the spirits and the legends of the creation of the world. He tells her how she was the only one that could keep a smile on his face when the world was falling apart.

And Katara holds his hand and tells him that her mother would take her to see the dancing lights in the sky when her and Sokka would get into fights. Her mother would tell Katara the stories of the spirit world and the beautiful legends kept safe in their tribe. She would tell her the tales of Avatars long forgotten and that Katara would have just as much of an impact on the world.

The two walk back to their campsite together, hand in hand, greeting Suki and Sokka. The rest of the night is filled with the smell of slow cooking fish and the sound of ghost stories.

Zuko, Katara, Suki and Sokka spend many more nights together, fighting over what to order in and what movies to watch. Katara and Sokka can’t ever settle on what kind of food because she wants to taste a little bit of home and he comments on how much he’s tired of sea prunes. Zuko and Suki are always at odds with what to put on for a movie and it’s usually only solved with a game of rock, paper, scissors.

Katara finds that she doesn’t really care for what film is blaring on Suki’s TV as long as she gets to fit herself into Zuko’s arms and rest her head on his chest. She sometimes falls asleep like that, tired from a day of adventuring with her boyfriend and the darkness of the makeshift cinema that is Suki’s bedroom lulls her. It also helps that Zuko is exceptionally warm, and the way he holds her calms her— makes her feel safe. Every time she drifts off, Zuko smiles down to her, movie forgotten. He cards his fingers through her hair while affection warms its way all over his chest.

And when Sokka notices and makes a disgusted sound, Zuko chooses to ignore. It’s always followed by an ‘Oof!’ when Suki elbows Sokka in response, anyway.

Zuko wonders what her brother would say if he ever caught him and Katara kissing — well, more like making out now that they can’t get their hands off each other. He tries to push the thought away, he’d really like to keep all his limbs and appendages safe from the fury of her protective brother.

In his best friend’s bed room, surrounded by the people he cares for so deeply, he can only wonder as to what he did to deserve it all.

It is serene in Zuko’s mind, finally. There is complete peace.

That is until Katara delivers the most terrifying news for a boy at his age to hear from his girlfriend.

“My dad wants to meet you!”

He drops himself backwards into the sea.

Maybe he can drown and this will all go away. He’ll just think of all the good times him and Katara have been having and he can rest in peace.

Her hands pull him out of the water, “Stop being so dramatic!”

“Why would you drop this bomb on me right after Chit Sang said he wants to fire me for getting distracted all the time?” he whines.

She splashes him with the water, “First of all, he didn’t say he’d _fire_ you, he said that you could be doing better—”

“I’m gonna get fired.”

“You still have your schedule for the week, just prove to him how dedicated you are!”

“He’s convinced I’m never paying attention,” she gives him a pointed look as if to agree that he really never is, to which he gapes, “You wouldn’t get it.”

“I wouldn’t?” she rests her hands on her hips.

“No, you see, there’s this super gorgeous water bender that surfs all the time. She like splashes around out there, makes all these funny shapes. I can’t concentrate,” he shrugs.

She smiles, “Oh yeah?”

He grins, “Yeah. It’s impossible. Oh— I shouldn’t say that, you’ll get jealous right?”

She rolls her eyes, pushing him down by his shoulders to give him a quick kiss.

“Anyway, now that you’re done being every chick flick’s cliche—”

“Hey!”

“He’s inviting you for dinner Friday night.”

Zuko brings his arms around her waist and pulls her in close, kissing at her shoulder, “Mmmmm, lets talk about my water bender instead.”

She ignores the jump in her chest at his words and pushes at his chest to stop him.

“I’m serious, my dad really wants to meet you,” she pouts slightly.

Zuko groans because he can already feel himself giving in.

“Please,” she stretches out the vowel, “He wants to know more about you.”

He scrunches his eyes shut, “No, he just wants to do an appraisal and then threaten my life if I break your heart.”

She gives him a dead stare, “As he should.”

“Katara,” he whines.

“I will drag you there.”

He watches her for a few moments of silence, sighs and then drops his head to rest at her neck. His arms hug her to him tightly, water tinkling as it drops from his skin and back to the sea.

“What if he doesn’t like me?”

She softens.

She wraps her arms around his neck, one hand coming to stroke through his wet hair.

“I know he will.”

He mumbles against her skin, “I’m not very likeable in parental eyes. Or I guess any eyes.”

Her heart clenches, “Stop that.”

She shifts slightly, pulling his face into her hands and making him face her as she speaks.

“My dad is a dad, he’s going to be cautious about anyone his kid is dating, yes, but he already hears everything about you from me and—”

His eyes widen like a lost puppy, “You talk about me to him?”

“Of course I do,” she gives him a smile.

He melts.

“He already knows a lot about you, trust me, he just wants to grant the mandatory fatherly approval,” she strokes his cheeks with her thumbs, “I want you to meet him too, to like him. You’re both so important to me.”

His chest warms up at that.

Zuko smiles, “Okay, let’s do it.”

Because it means so much to her. Family is so important for her and she wants _him_ to be part of it. She wants her father to know him, to like him, to understand why his daughter is so enamoured. She cares for him enough to want him to be apart of every aspect of her life.

And Zuko thinks he loves her for it.

No— Not just for that.

He loves her.

For all of her.

Though he’s not just ready to say it yet. He blames his fearful mind.

Their dinner goes well. It’s Zuko, Katara, Sokka and their father, Hakoda, all sharing a traditional Southern Water Tribe meal. Katara tells him that they all worked hard to put this together and Zuko’s heart feel heavy at the thought of this little family bustling about in their kitchen to put on a feast for him.

Her father already knows the basics about him, what with Katara’s constant praise. So Hakoda asks Zuko about different things. He asks him why he’s pre-law, what his other goals are in life, whether he wants to return home after university. They’re all questions that make Zuko sweat, but Katara holds his hand under the table through it all anyway.

Zuko listens well to Hakoda’s stories of their home. He asks questions every once in a while to show his interest and tries his best to sound as eloquent as possible when Hakoda asks what kind of equivalents they have at Ember Island.

Sokka pipes in to help his friend a few times, boasting how Zuko is such an amazing life gaurd, has training as a professional fire bender and can even spar with swords. The boy at the heart of the attention tries his best not to look flustered under the praise, though it does not work. Hakoda likes that, thinks its good that the boy is not some cocky show off, that he has modesty.

Katara sneaks glances and smiles to herself when she notices her father’s familiar warm eyes watching Zuko.

As the night ends and Katara walks him to the porch, her father follows.

“It was nice to meet you, Zuko,” Hakoda gives him a smile.

Zuko swallows, “Thank you, Sir. It was nice meeting you, Sir.”

He laughs at the title, patting Katara’s shoulder, “I like him.”

She beams.

Her father heads back, shutting the door behind him.

“See! I told you!”

He lets out a breath of relief, “Yeah, wow.”

She pulls him into a hug, “I knew it! I knew he’d love you just as much as I do!”

His heart stops.

The air escapes her lungs.

She loosens her grip, looking to face him, “Zuko, sorry. If you don’t—”

“I love you, Katara.”

His heart races.

And she can breathe again.

He doesn’t know how he got so lucky.

The day they’ve been dreading arrives. The air is hot as always, and the humidity feels suffocating.

“I miss you, Katara,” he hugs her tight.

“I miss you more, Zuko,” she gives him one last kiss.

When she lets go, Zuko can feel that a piece of his heart is stolen when she turns to board her plane. He hopes she doesn’t turn back one last time, because the memory would haunt him. Katara’s chest feels heavy and like something is burning deep within, like she already craves to be by his side again. She doesn’t look back because she knows she’d stop herself from leaving.

The time difference isn’t much. They keep in touch as often as possible while they pack and arrange their accommodations for the fall. They fill the other in about their day, they watch movies and litter it with their commentary, and when it gets very late they fall asleep on call together.

Time passes slowly, and they are both eagerly counting down their days left at their homes.

When they see each other, newly yellowed leaves littering the grounds of Ba Sing Se university and a sharp breeze blowing between them, Zuko feels like his heart is whole again and Katara feels so light she could walk on air.

They don’t think they’ll ever forget when red and blue met, that indigo summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and its over!
> 
> i only realized how attached i got to this story after finishing this chapter, i'm gonna miss these two and their beach escapades sigh. 
> 
> i hope you all enjoyed this fic!! im so grateful for all the sweet comments i got!!
> 
> thank you so much for reading and please do leave your thoughts in the comments !<3
> 
> //
> 
> edit: art.by.isabel4 on instagram made this beautiful beautiful art of this fic, i’m so so honoured thank you so much for this love <3 
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/CH85MW1JuYQ/


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